Hacker News Reader

Comment by grondilu | Hacker News Reader

> I would guess no small part of them will try to move to the remaining EU states.

You seem to underestimate the language barrier. I once talked to a few British young people about which country they would like to move to and I recall they mentioned New Zealand and the US, none of them mentioned any country in continental Europe and when I asked why I got confirmation that language issues matter.

That's one reason among many why Europe can't quite work as a federation as the USA do.

View on HN

Since we're swapping anecdotes - I've personally known 4 monolingual English speakers, who've lived and worked in the EU (Spain, Switzerland and Germany) and got long fine. They weren't monolingual when they left.

I've got a Facebook feed full of friends discussing their destinations right now. Helsinki is a popular possibility.

Meanwhile everywhere else they learn English and most (with the exception of the French) are pretty good at it

But yeah, if they can't be bothered to learn another language...

If you already speak the universal language, there is little reason to learn another one.

Well if you really think all you ever need to know is in the language you speak go for it.

Or never contemplate going somewhere else

English is my second language. I don't speak from self interest of provincial ignorance. Just being rational.

There are areas in Europe where english is not that strong. If one lives in such an area it's a good idea to at least try to learn the language.

so wrong... when you live in non-english speaking country, you will be quite isolated from the rest of the world, even if your freinds speak english. it's just they won't speak english all the time...

In some regions in the South-West of France the majority of immigration comes from UK. In some small towns almost 1 out of 10 inhabitants is British [1]. Admitedly these are mostly old British people looking for some nice place to live with a lower cost of life than UK.

[1]: http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/document.asp?reg_id=4&ref_id=1... (French)

Indeed.

The top emigration destinations for British people are nit in the EU - the US, China and Australia.

Wow why would them want to emigrate to China?

Hong Kong?

Hong Kong, which speaks English or for English teaching jobs in China.

Wow, China. That debunked that the language is the compelling reason.

Not really - China is very English-friendly, particularly in its business centres. Of course EU countries generally are as well.

Where in China have you visited? Did you venture outside the main touristy areas?

Business, rather than tourist areas. And no. Though I understand that English is a mandatory language in schools now.

Only in the main cities. Just outside the boundaries, and you will face some language barriers. Language barriers also with small to medium businesses interaction.

To be honest, it is not just a language barrier, how about cultural barrier and others.

Pretty much everyone who is literate learns French, German or Spanish to a basic conversational level at high school FWIW.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com